How Much To Budget For One Month In Istanbul

With the colder weather closing in, we decided to bid farewell to Ukraine and chase the sun to Turkey, one of our longstanding bucket list countries. We started with a full month in busy, dynamic, exciting Istanbul. At 17 million people, it’s the largest city either of us have ever been in. The month was filled with new sights, experiences and flavours — a perfect introduction to Turkey. Plus the people of Istanbul gave our dogs an unbelievably warm reception.

After an amazing month of sights, food and fun, we tallied up the final bill and found out how much it costs to slow travel in Istanbul. According to our budget for one month in Turkey, it’s surprisingly affordable.

The cost of accommodation turned out higher than expected but this was more than offset by the low cost of food, whether dining out (which we did a lot!) or cooking at home (which we did only a little). Getting around the city was also very inexpensive and public transit offered not just buses and trams but also ferries, which were a great way to experience the city. Entertainment can be as expensive or cheap as you like; we tried all options between a food tour, a free walking tour, admission to sights, and simply walking around and enjoying the street culture.

All amounts are in USD.

Item	Budget
Accommodations: A spacious one-bedroom apartment in a central location. Here is the tour of our AirBnB.	$1,001
Groceries: Typically we do a lot more cooking at home but we found the dining out options in Istanbul to be delicious and affordable. Some of the grocery budget ($30) went to water as we had to buy a large bottle every couple days.	$258
Dining Out: We are out once or twice per day, including both street food and restaurant meals. Meals out were truly the highlight of our trip.	$364
Entertainment: This includes a walking tour when we first arrived, food tour for both of us, visiting a couple historic sights, and cruising the Bosphorus.	$218
Local Transportation: Mostly to cover the cost of airport transfer; we arrived in the country at night with our dogs and wanted everything to go smoothly. We also used public transit a few times, including subway, bus, trams and public ferry…all very affordable at less than 50 cents a ride.	$90
Dogs: Because our dogs need to eat too!	$49
Data: Primarily to cover our data plan but also includes a top up for Skype so that we can make calls to landlines as needed.	$31
Fitness: This included one month gym memberships at $30 each as well as protein powder and our online coaching program for weightlifting. Here’s more on how we stay fit while traveling.	$133
Insurance: An essential for any travel. Our plan is a combination of health and travel insurance.	$97
Storage: Although we downsized 95% of our possessions, we still have a few personal effects in storage back in Canada.	$116
Total	$2,357